


Lover, Come Hover

by brilligspoons



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-08
Updated: 2012-01-08
Packaged: 2017-10-29 04:24:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/315787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brilligspoons/pseuds/brilligspoons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>Prompt: First time Erik and Charles celebrate a holiday/birthday (one of their own or someone else's)/some random but significant occasion together.</i> Charles needs some reassurance before meeting Erik's friends. Set in a non-powered modern day AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lover, Come Hover

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chiasmus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiasmus/gifts).



Charles stares at the mirror and fixes his tie for the - well, he's actually lost count of how often he's fiddled with it since choosing it this morning, to be honest, but it can't be nearly enough times to warrant Raven breaking down into giggles somewhere behind him. He scowls at her reflection and tries to ignore her as he takes the lint brush to his pants. Again. Charles sighs, disgusted with his own obsessive behavior. The brush falls from his hands, and he turns his wheelchair away from the mirror to stare at Raven, hands on his hips. "I'm trying to make a good first impression," Charles says, "which is no reason for you to be laughing at me."

"You're adorable when you're being all nervous and neurotic," Raven tells him. She offers him a sincere smile, though, so he doesn't quite feel the need to throw something at her anymore. "If it makes you feel any better, I think you look very handsome."

Charles runs a hand down the front of his shirt, avoiding touching his tie altogether lest he be compelled to check that it's knotted correctly yet again. "You think so?" he asks. "Only I don't know if it's...too formal? Too informal, perhaps? He never did specify. Oh god. What if it's black tie? What if it's one of those fraternity-type parties?"

Raven rolls her eyes and flops down on Charles' bed. "I highly doubt Erik was ever in a fraternity," she says, "and I'm sure he would have made a point to tell you if you had to get a tuxedo for it. Stop being so ridiculous."

"You know, I was a lot more sympathetic to you than you're being to me last month when you flipped out over where to take Angel on your first date," Charles reminds her.

"And that was very nice of you," she replies. "But there's no clause in the Sibling Contract that says I have to reciprocate any good will you choose to visit upon me. In fact, you even initialed on that line. Funny, right?"

Charles wheels over to the bed and shoves at her knee with a hand. "I should never have encouraged you to go into law," he says, sighing with mock severity.

"As if. You wouldn't have met Erik if you hadn't," Raven murmurs sleepily.

"Point." Charles glances around him and grins at her expression. "Working too hard?"

"My boss has this insane work ethic, and I can barely keep up," says Raven. "I'm hoping that getting him laid will mellow him out a little. Know anyone who could help with that?"

"You better not be using my relationship with Erik to get your own way at work, young lady," Charles teases her. She laughs and pushes herself up to lean forward onto Charles' shoulder. "Having dinner with aforementioned girlfriend this evening while I'm gone?"

"Of course," Raven says. She sways away from him, then back in to knock her forehead against his. "When's Erik picking you up?"

The doorbells rings just as she finishes asking. Charles' stomach jumps up into his throat, and Raven smirks at him. "I should, uh," he says. "I should probably get that." He leans over and gives her a peck on the cheek before rushing out of the bedroom.

"Have fun!" she calls after him.

Charles takes a moment to calm down when he gets to the front door. Two months since he'd first asked him out, and the newness of him-and-Erik still sends a shiver of anticipation and want and happiness all throughout his body. Charles flexes his hands around the armrests and breathes in deeply before reaching out to take his coat and hat from the cubby and slipping them on. The doorbell rings again, and he curses under his breath for making Erik stand outside in the cold for this long. He grabs the door and swings it open to find Erik staring down at him in amusement.

"Second thoughts?" Erik asks. "Nerves?"

Charles snorts at him and buttons his coat up. "Hardly," he says, but the look on Erik's face tells him it's unconvincing. "Fine," Charles concedes as Erik steps aside to make room for his chair on the stoop, "I'm a little terrified of the room full of lawyers I'll be spending the next few hours in. Is that what you want to hear?"

Erik frowns at him. "You're missing a few crucial elements of cold weather gear," he says. He disappears inside the house and returns a moment later with the over-sized charcoal grey scarf Raven bought him years and years ago and a flannel blanket. Erik leans down over him and wraps the scarf around his neck and tucks the ends into Charles' coat, then spreads the blanket neatly over his legs. Before he steps back, he moves in closer and presses a soft kiss against Charles' lips. "You shouldn't be terrified," he whispers after he pulls away. "Besides - didn't Raven say something about you making a thesis advisor cry once?"

"Raven exaggerates," Charles says quickly. Erik quirks an eyebrow up. "So what you're saying is I should make your law school friends cry."

"I'm saying," Erik begins with a laugh, "that you will have plenty in common with these people. And they'll have liberally applied gin and schnapps by now, so it'll be a room full of inebriated lawyers. Quite a difference. Though I wouldn't say no to you making them cry, of course. I need some amusement in my life."

"Oh, I'm sure," replies Charles. Erik grins and gives him another kiss, which Charles sighs and relaxes into, feeling the tension fading away slowly. Above them, a window slides open with a bang.

"Jesus, I don't need to see my boss and my brother going at it. Go make out somewhere I can't see," Raven's voice calls down to them.

"Stop spying on us, you shameless voyeur," Charles tells her. She snorts and closes the window again. Erik shakes with silent laughter as they head down to where his car is parked on the street. He helps Charles into the car and places the wheelchair in his trunk, and when he gets into the driver's seat, he fusses at the blanket before Charles bats his hands away. "Drive, Erik," he says.

The ride from Charles' house to the restaurant where they're meeting Erik's friends is quiet, comfortably so, punctuated once or twice by Erik inquiring whether or not Charles would like to see this or that movie at some point in the future. It's not, Charles thinks, a product of having nothing to say to Erik; the nervousness from earlier spikes every time the car turns another corner, and it's easier, much easier, to focus instead on the line of Erik's profile, the stubble scattered across his chin and upper lip, the stubborn lock of hair that refuses to be held back from his forehead by any amount of gel. Erik, for his part, merely takes one hand off the steering wheel and offers it to him. Charles readily takes it and squeezes before interlocking their fingers together. Charles turns away from Erik's face and stares outside his window instead. After a moment or two, he can almost feel Erik's restraint break.

"These are just school friends," Erik explains. "We have this party every year to catch up. It's the only time we have during the year to do this. Nothing crazy, I promise you."

"No swinging from the chandeliers?" Charles remarks absently.

"Not after Janos broke his collar bone that one time." Charles whips his head around in shock, and Erik grins at him. "I'm joking. I just don't understand why you're panicking so much. Once introductions are done, they probably won't even pay attention to us. We stay for dinner and a drink, and then we go home."

Charles considers this in silence. He drums his fingers against the door once and then sighs. "Have you ever brought anyone to this?" he asks. "You've been doing this since you left Yale, right?"

Erik swings the car into the parking garage near the restaurant and parks without answering. He takes the key out of the ignition and shifts in his seat to face Charles. "No," he says. "You're the first."

Charles blinks in the dim lighting. "What, never?"

Erik chuckles. "I haven't had a serious relationship since I was a lowly pre-law at NYU," he says. He takes Charles' hand again and kisses the palm. "You're the only person I've met that I could imagine bringing to this and introducing to the people I've known all of my adult life." He sits back against the door. "Feeling better about this now?"

"Feeling _better_?" Charles repeats, voice coming out strangled and more than a little manic. "I'm more nervous now than I have been all day, you bastard." Erik's shaking by the time he finishes that sentence, and Charles leans over the center console to hit him on the arm. "I can't even believe you."

Erik grabs his hand before he can sit back in the seat and tugs him forward for a kiss. "You're going to be fine," he says when they've parted. "You'll impress them with some big science words, and they won't eat you."

"I'll big science word _you_ ," Charles grumbles, but he tugs Erik down for more kisses once he's back in his wheelchair.

"Ready?" Erik asks.

"Ready," Charles replies, and at the end of the night Erik says _I love you_ for the first time, and Charles has to admit that that made it a complete success of an evening.


End file.
